Pierre Cotton La Chapelle - Les Grillés - AOC Cote de Brouilly 2019
Very steep, directly south facing vineyard, mid slope of the cote, very old vines, on yellow siliceous rocks. This is the geological anomaly of just 2 ha, previously unknown to geologists and soil scientists. For those who have enjoyed this cuvée previously, you know that the juice itself is one of the most powerful Beaujolais wines around. This vineyard makes structure, depth, intensity. But of course, the always soft touch from Pierre means it hasn't been over extracted, or turned into a more ambitious oaky something else. Always true to Gamay first, Pierre's wines always have supreme delicate drinkability, with site expression offered freely, nothing hidden by technique.
The combination of pink, yellow, and red granite is only found in this 1.5 hectare parcel called Les Grillés, or The Grids, which refers to the various layers of rock, located on the slope just next to the winery in Odénas. Les Grillés was the first single-vineyard parcel Cotton produced and is often the richest wine of each vintage. All of the red wines at Cotton are vinified with native yeasts and without SO2 in concrete tanks, then age underground in century-old foudres that were originally built for holding beer, then were repurposed in the 1950s and 1960s.
